Clemens

There is not much to say here. This book is fantastic and continues in a fantastic way like the first book ended. Nothing to complain here. If you liked the first one, you gonna read this one anyway.

This one was a a really great book. One of the view where I can give 5 stars without any hesitation.

When I started reading the first chapter I was in big doubt and thought with this writing style I won't be able to finish this book. But this soon changed because somehow the style changed from chapter one and the story got really interesting, so much that it was almost impossible to put this book down.

For me, who is not a big fan of fantasy, this one is just the perfect one. Highly recommended.

Not much to say or complain. A wonderful story in this wonderful universe, something I truly enjoy.

Some reviews say the ending is disappointing but I disagree. On the other hand when you look at all the other culture books, none of those books have really big endings. The story is what counts in those books. And they are all amazing and this one stands no lower.

While I enjoyed it, I did not enjoy it as much as the previous two books. It brings the whole story ark to an end, but it feels a bit forced. Not so enchanting like the previous ones. I was never really drawn into the story.

So, if you read and enjoyed the other two, I recommend to read this one to finish it. Else skip it.

Everything the first part wasn't, was this part. Everything I complained about and disliked in the first part, was made up in this part. 200%

I truly fully enjoyed reading this book. A fantastic joy ride from start to finish. Perfectly fitting into the whole Void universe story.

I started of a bit slow and I felt as there was a lack of direction in what is actually going on. But after this initial slow part it really picked up and got really interesting and good.

Fully enjoyed reading this one, fantastic spy thriller.

That was an enjoyfull book. The idea behind the universe is really amazing and the story is not too shabby either. If I have on thing to nitpick it would be the strange use of language words like “cove” and “nogging”, etc. That was a bit off putting. But besides this nothing really to complain. Looking forward to more books from this series

While not bad, and even better than the previous one, I still can't help myself with thinking there are just too many cliche characters appearing in this book.

The first half was a bit of a drag, but in the second part the book turns into a very good page turner trash detective novel, so there is nothing to fault here.

I enjoyed it to a certain extend, at least so much that I will continue reading this series.

This one was better than the previous one. What a bold statement.

While the last one (#6) was more or less a conclusion to the previous one (#5) with not much happening and a bit of sudden conclusion to the whole affair, this one puts everything in a new light.

I truly enjoyed that there is an actual gap between those books and that the characters are getting older, etc. The whole story arch also moves forward and I am really looking forward to the next installment.

The previous book was an amazing action filled joy ride, while this one was a good follow up book. You can't really top this, at some point you need to conclude the story ark.

It was well done, but I couldn't help myself to feel a bit let down, just a bit too much stereotypes, etc.

Especially where the story will go on from here, there was no open point at the end where a big story could continue. There are of course a lot of small things going on and we will see what happens in the next book.

Verdict, solid but not outstanding.

I say that next to the first book this is the one of the best, if not the best in the Culture series books I have read.

Everything from the story, the settings, the characters, everything is just really amazing. Well written, well laid out, amazing plot. And on top of that a really satisfying ending.

Highly recommended to everyone.

A not ver long book, but a very good book indeed. My first book I read from Arthur C. Clarke and I really enjoyed his writing style and the whole story behind this.

Not much else to say here.

The New Testament to the Old Testament. And like the New Testament it is much shorter and easier to read as you get all the basic science out of the way.

An amazing delve into years post second World War and how the Russians came to their first nuclear bomb and the development of the thermonuclear bomb and critical events around this time.

Fascinating and amazing, really highly recommended.

Well that was very different than any other culture novel I have read yet. But it was much better than the previous one I read, Excession.

While the culture or any of the space faring things get never mentioned, it has an amazing story. Loved it.

From all the books I have read from this series I would say this is by far the weakest. It is filled with just endless clichés and stereotypes and characters in utter black and white.

Parts are enjoyable, especially the last part is not too bad, but in overall I can't really warm myself up. Was a bit of a let down.

From all the “Culture” novels I have read, I think this is the weakest. I just couldn't get into the story. While there were interesting parts, there seemed to be way too much text without a story and too many loose ends and side stories that really didn't move the main story forward.

Some parts were interesting in deepening the main Culture lore, but not enough to somehow enjoy this book at full.

As all the books are pretty much stand alone, at the current point I would skip it.

“And I have become death, destroyer of worlds”

This book is the bible for how the Atomic Bomb was created. It starts of in the dawn of the atomic model, before scientists knew that the atom could actually be split. The book follows from the early 19th hundreds through the first war and to the beginning of the second world war and how the whole atomic business got into the move.

Absolutely fascinating read about what a humungous project this was. With ten thousands of people and enormous factories.

It also gives the harsh opposite side. Up to the dropping of the first bomb it just describes the whole creation, it then gives a long eye witness description. This really shows the horrors of this bomb and how it just not comparable to any other bombings (even to the fire bombings of Tokyo).

If there is one thing I might complain about, it is that Nagasaki just gets too little time in the book. It pretty much is “bomb dropped” and the the way how Japan capitulated. There is sadly no part of eye witness reports from the Nagasaki bombing.

Overall a must read in my opinion. Highly recommended

After “The Spy who came in from the cold”, this is my second book from John le Carré. Like with the previous one, I saw the movie before I read the book and like before I had no idea that there was a book.

Compared to the previous one, this book seems to be much more refined and better structured. The story is gripping and interesting from the first to the last page. It feels complex without being all too complex. A nice read, a good book. The perfect spy thriller.

On a side note. The movie for “The Spy who came in from the cold” is fantastic, better than the book. I have to say that this book is on par with the movie, the movie was excellent.

Recommended

A collection of short stories, loosely placed in the Culture universe.

Some are interesting, some are less. In general I would say average. There was not one where I was really blown away, but they are not bad either.

It is a short read, so why not read it.

While I think it is not as good as the previous two books I read, I still liked it a lot. I really enjoyed the way the story is split out and interacts and how the whole thing comes together at the end.

And it is just really well written. I truly enjoy the writing style of Iain Banks.

Just read it.

As I said before there are books and there are Books. This is a Book.

This is nothing that can read through with only half your brain active. This needs your full concentration. A complex multi level story with an english level some other authors should really take a note from. A wonderful read, but a really hard read. There are parts where I really had to re-read some pages because I just got completely lost somewhere in sub metaphors and other side tracked part.

But when I was in the zone, the pages just ran by. It was wonderful. I fully enjoyed, especially as it did not suffer from the often problematic Book ending that often has either no end or some really shitty end. This End was great.

Would I recommend this. Well, are you willing to work when reading? Like be really concentrated. Are you willing to not 100% understand what actually is going on and are you willing to accept that you probably will never be able to decipher all the meanings in there. Well, if yes, then go for it.

If not, I think skipping this is better than forcing yourself through this book.

I truly enjoyed and I will read further novels from this author. Wonderful.

What a wonderful end to this two books. It keeps a lot of questions open for further books, but it closes down this story ark very nicely. I might have been a bit too harsh on the first book with only three stars, but reading those two books back to back it makes a fantastic read.

While this book started off really good and is amazing well written, at the end it felt a bit like a let down as the whole usual the underdog gets the powers, the people that need to survive survive and all is well. It is not bad, and actually very good, better than Mistborn, but still I felt that it could have been so much better.

I truly enjoyed this book a lot. And I really start to like Hemingways writing style and prose. Wonderful, great, amazing.

I would say I enjoyed it even more than “A moveable feast”.

Recommended!

It is a good book and a very informative read about the start of the US space program and how it quickly was setup to counter the Russian launches. What kind of people were flying on the first rocket ships. Pretty impressive.

Recommended for all and not only for people interested into the space race back then.